Aishwarya Kumar, Pune
Team India pulls out the Wushu team from participating in the World University Games taking place in China’s Chengdu as a sign of protest against China‘s growing aggression and claims over Arunachal. The incident happened after three of the twelve-member team were offered stapled visas instead of stamped ones.
The twelve-member team representing India in the World University Games for Wushu is scheduled to commence on July 28 and go on till August 8. The three members who were offered stapled visas were natives of Arunachal Pradesh, and this is reportedly not the first time China has shown its hostility. The three members were previously denied visas as their documents weren’t accepted on time.
Arindam Bagchi, a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson, was quoted as saying during a weekly media briefing that India has rightly decided to withdraw the team from participating and has also lodged a protest with Chinese officials reiterating the Indian position on Arunachal Pradesh.
The tiff between China and India develops against the backdrop of aggravating tensions between the two nations on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) since May 2020. Several attempts to mend this strained relationship have, however, failed miserably. Stapling visas instead of stamping indicates China’s refusal of India’s sovereignty over Arunachal Pradesh.
The current turn of events raises questions about India’s participation in the upcoming Asian Games held in China, from September 23 to October 8, 2023. However, citing the differences in the procedure for documentation of the Asian Games, a former Indian Olympic Association official has cleared the air and assured that the Indian team and players from Arunachal Pradesh will have no problems in multi-sport events like the Asian Games. In a similar incident in 2011, China issued stapled visas to five athletes from Arunachal Pradesh participating in a karate competition in Quanzhou.